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threat to 21 federally listed threatened or endangered species, and a State Farm Insurance study determined there were 2.4 million collisions between deer and vehicles between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009 alone. The study further revealed that a collision between animal and vehicle happens somewhere in this country e... |
of elk, moose, bears, bighorn sheep, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians make up the grisly statistics, with the human toll approximated at 200 fatalities and 29,000 injuries each year according to the Federal Highway Administration. Property damage from these strikes has been listed by the Insurance Institute for H... |
one time seemed like an insurmountable challenge to the varied agendas of commercial and recreational drivers, federal and local government, conservationists, highway engineers and members of Native American nations, many states have embarked on odysseys to build a series of bridges, culverts and tunnels for animals, o... |
to direct wildlife to the crossings, mitigate the effects of the built environment and promote safety and survival by routing animals around, over and/or under roads and highways. Predicated on early models in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, Slovenia and France, with France at the forefront of many of th... |
forms throughout the U.S. Species and Statistics Dr. Patricia Cramer, research assistant professor at Utah State University, worked with Principle Investigator Dr. John Bissonette and a team of nine ecologists and engineers on compiling a resource guide for professionals on construction of wildlife crossings: “Evaluati... |
crossing construction and “a collaborative process (she) really value(s).” Confluence of Creeds and Crossings To that end, in western Montana, an infamous bumper sticker reading, “Pray for me, I drive U.S. 93” reflects a treacherous drive along a 55-mile stretch of roadway. Extending from Arizona to Canada, the two-lan... |
continues through Missoula, Kalispell, the Flathead Indian Reservation and along the western shore of Flathead Lake before entering Canada. Described by many as “Montana’s most dangerous two-lane highway,” U.S. 93 is heavily traveled by local, commercial and recreational vehicles. In 1989, the Montana Department of Tra... |
fatalities which were determined, in the course of a 20-year study, to occur primarily during passing. At that time, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes (CSKT) strongly opposed the plan, citing “concerns about their natural, cultural, recreational and scenic resources” along the large segment of highway that cr... |
expansion would harm their land and its diverse animal population—from grizzly bears and elk to painted turtles and bullhead trout.” Protecting and safeguarding animals is intrinsic to Indian culture, observers note, with the continuum of wildlife corridors an integral part of that. “Early on, it wasn’t pretty,” said D... |
the crossings. CSKT studied wildlife crossings in Europe and at Canada’s Banff National Park, the latter of which eventually became a template for them, but initially, Becker says, “…everything we proposed met with real resistance. It was a tough run. We were dealing with great civil engineers, but even MDT and the Fed... |
planning firm—was brought in to mitigate what had become a contentious debate. The environmental award-winning firm, known globally for its practiced assimilation of architecture, the environment and wildlife spaces (“To save wildlife, we must save wild places” is among its slogans), determined that only the northern q... |
40 strategic wildlife crossings including small-and large-box culverts, open span bridges and major over-crossings. The structures were created to channel bear, elk, moose, mountain lions, amphibians and waterfowl under and over the highway, according to Jones & Jones’ whitepaper report. With completion slated for this... |
road and into the crossings. Pat Basting, MDT Missoula district biologist who has been involved with the U.S. Highway 93 project since shortly after its inception, affirmed that the wildlife crossings have been getting “pretty substantial use by a multitude of species.” A formal monitoring process that will continue fo... |
ascribing “the bulk of the credit to the tribes in maintaining connectivity to wildlife.” Panthers and Passages In Florida, where an estimated 120 panthers remain in the wild, conservationists have been particularly concerned with State Road 29 and Interstate 75, also called Alligator Alley, among others. Listed as an ... |
the last two decades (up from 20-30 in 1987), the Florida panther continues to meet an untimely fate due to vehicle strikes with the loss of 10 individuals in 2008 and 16 (possibly 17) in 2009. “There are not enough resources to protect every linear mile of highway in the state,” said Darrell Land, panther team leader ... |
Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. But in areas that have benefitted from the construction of wildlife crossings, and in particular a 40-mile stretch of I-75 which boasts 36 structures, only two panthers have been lost to collisions in 20 years, he says, noting that 40 miles of fencing also help facilitate pass... |
on SR 29 which traverses I-75. Four crossings also currently exist on Highway 1, south of Miami and in the vicinity of Everglades National Park. Land explained that in the state whenever a new road is planned, or a proposal for a road upgrade is submitted, wildlife crossings are considered and integrated where possible... |
an arduous research project between Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) and the state’s Game and Fish Department, which involved a series of deer migration studies and analysis of vehicle-wildlife collisions over an 8-year period, resulted in the $3.8 million construction of seven 12-foot high wildlife underpa... |
by up to 97 percent according to Mark Zornes, wildlife management coordinator for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Green River region. “It all started in the 1980s with 11 miles of just deer fences,” Zornes said, “and we still had significant mortalities. We tried everything on the planet to keep deer off the hig... |
that came on when animals tried to enter and had right of way. Nothing worked.” With construction of the Wyoming underpasses, also referred to as boxes, not only did mule deer fatalities decrease to 11 last year, but elk, moose, bobcats, badgers, cottontails and other animals have been known to use them successfully. A... |
quipped that one can herd mule deer anywhere they want to go), the state recognized the importance of providing enough underpasses in proportion to miles of fencing. “They will throw themselves into the fence to get to (winter or summer) ranges,” Zornes explained, adding that if there are enough boxes, and once they fi... |
becomes a part of their migratory route. And with another thriving wildlife crossing in the Baggs area (Carbon County) utilized by 3,000 mule deer in its first year, WYDOT is seeking $25.5 million in funding, including stimulus money, to build 25 miles of big game fencing, 10 underpasses and one overpass for pronghorn ... |
Kemmerer. With Montana’s U.S. Highway 93 project garnering the moniker “The Road as Respectful Visitor,” and 46 states transcending the conventional approach to road building with the incorporation of wildlife crossings, proponents say construction no longer has to be construed as destructive, and the right of way (who... |
Recently, as shoreline landowners in Lubec, my wife and I received a letter from Acadian Seaplants, providing their answers to persistent questions about the harvest of rockweed in Cobscook Bay |
and hoping for our support of their efforts when they resume cutting in 2010. Because I am a long-time environmental scientist, I did what comes naturally: I looked for scientific |
information about rockweed and its role in coastal ecosystems. Rockweed is one of many “seaweeds” that sustain coastal marine ecosystems throughout the world. The growth of rockweed provides the food |
and shelter for invertebrates, which are the basis of the food web that sustains higher-level fisheries of coastal Maine. Rockweed also provides critical nursery habitat for young fish that are |
attractive to predators. Seaweeds are threatened in many areas, disappearing at a rate of 7 percent per year worldwide, according to a recent study published in the Proceedings of the |
National Academy of Sciences. One need not look far to see the abandoned sardine factories and codfish fisheries of New England, signs of overexploitation of the marine environment. Good management |
of marine resources should balance catch against annual production, so that the economic livelihood of the sea is sustained for generations. Unfortunately, cod and sardines were overharvested in many areas, |
and those fisheries are now gone. Now that we have removed these higher-level fish and some invertebrates, such as sea urchins, the rockweed cutters are focused on the base of |
the food chain itself. Will we allow rockweed to be overharvested as well, so that it declines and disappears from Cobscook Bay and the surrounding waters? Protecting rockweed is important |
if we are to sustain periwinkle and mussel fisheries, which provide local jobs. So, as an aid to the local economy, we registered our shoreline with Downeast Coastal Conservancy as |
a “no-harvest” area. Acadian Seaplants vows that it will not remove more than 17 percent of the annual growth of rockweed — a level deemed sustainable in studies by R.L. |
Vadas of the biology department at the University of Maine. To ensure recovery, Dr. Vadas also advises not to harvest any area in consecutive years. The other major player, North |
American Kelp of Waldoboro, also plans to adhere to a maximum 17 percent harvest, after subtracting biomass that cannot be harvested from protected lands. We can only hope that all |
those who harvest rockweed will comply with the new state regulations passed in June 2009, codifying a maximum 17 percent harvest, because no amount of tax will bring back the |
rockweed if it disappears from the coast of Maine. The best policy would probably be to prohibit the harvest of rockweed, since it sustains the basis of the fish and |
shellfish industries in this region. Even so, it is unclear who has monitored and enforced the past levels of harvest and how accurately any of these parameters can be measured. |
The Marine Resources Committee will soon hold a workshop to evaluate the success of the regulation of rockweed cutting during the 2009 season. Currently, a surcharge on rockweed harvest is |
earmarked to help pay for monitoring by the commissioner of marine resources. Indeed, the current legislation requires that the proper harvest of rockweed must be verified by a third party |
starting with the 2010 harvest season. Done well, these provisions would provide welcome oversight of the rockweed resource and protect its critical role in the coastal marine ecosystem. Alternatively, the |
passing of rockweed would mark the end of the marine fisheries ecosystem — top to bottom — within the span of a couple of decades in eastern, coastal Maine. William |
If bones from dead deer could talk, they would reveal compelling stories. In late March 1989, snowmobilers reported several dead and frozen deer in a Canada Falls deer yard near historic Pittston Farm, 50 miles northwest of Greenville. As the |
state’s regional wildlife biologist at the time, I investigated the report and found 10 dead deer. Curious to know if the deer had died from coyote predation or other natural causes, I broke open the femur (thigh) bones with a |
hatchet to examine the bone marrow. Bone marrow of healthy deer resembles the color and consistency of thick hand cream. During late winter, as deer exhaust all remaining energy reserves, their bone marrow turns the color and consistency of red |
jelly. Lethargic deer with swollen faces and visible rib cages are signs of very poor health. Red jelly-like bone marrow in eight of 10 deer indicated severe malnutrition. A ninth deer died of a fractured hip caused by bullet fragments. |
Coyotes had eaten the deer based on tracks and scat, but did they kill the deer or merely perform euthanasia on animals weakened by inadequate food and shelter? The question is more relevant today than it was in 1989 because |
the quality and quantity of deer yards has plummeted since then. Winter is the bottleneck of deer survival in northern Maine. Poor-quality deer-wintering habitat further compromises their survival. Coyotes kill healthy deer, but emaciated ones are easy prey in late |
winter. Purchasing deer yards outright or protecting them with conservation easements — with binding timber harvest regulations — are the only viable long-term solutions to resolving Maine’s deer woes. Many hunters claim that designated deer yards without deer are solely |
attributable to coyote predation. During the winter of 1989, timber company foresters brought to my attention six designated deer yards without deer in the Moosehead Lake region. Investigations revealed that three of these deer yards had been mistakenly mapped and |
were subsequently dropped from state regulation. The other three deer wintering areas lacked deer because timber companies had clear-cut around them, creating an island of spruce and fir forest surrounded by three- to four-foot deep snowfields. With no access to |
neighboring forests, deer abandoned the yards rather than remain vulnerable to coyote predation. One winter evening, a Great Northern Paper Company forester surprised me by knocking on my house door. We had spent the day together with his boss, but |
in the woods he could not talk confidentially with me. He said the deer yard we had surveyed earlier that day supported winter deer for as long as he could remember. The forester explained that against his wishes, his boss |
instructed him to supervise a summer harvesting crew that cut all the timber around the deer yard. He then did something unprecedented and bold. From long cardboard tubes, he extracted forest cover maps showing closely guarded future forestry operations. He |
proceeded to identify deer yards unknown to the state. He did this because he wanted those areas protected from being clear-cut. He said, “I like hunting deer, and we can work cooperatively with the state to harvest trees and have |
deer, too. These are not mutually exclusive goals.” The Chub Pond deer yard in Hobbstown, south of Jackman, supported deer each winter from the 1940s until the early 1980s when Scott Paper Company clear-cut healthy trees abutting the deer yard, |
claiming it was a spruce budworm salvage cut. According to a Scott forester, also a deer hunter, deer abandoned the yard the following winter. The demise of deer yards is the reason why deer are struggling in northern, western and |
eastern Maine. Lawmakers, under increasing pressure to “do something about declining deer numbers,” are considering extending coyote trapping seasons to help the struggling deer population. However, passing LD 372 and other coyote control bills is as misguided as placing a |
Band-Aid on a compound fracture. The Legislature can enact infinite coyote-control bills, but the deer herd will not recover until the Legislature makes deer-yard protection a priority. Ron Joseph, of Camden, is a retired Maine wildlife biologist and deer hunter. |
The Art of Burlesque: ‘New Gotham Burlesque, 1931’ by Reginald Marsh (1898-1954) The drawings of burlesque and vaudeville acts Marsh made in the 1920s for the New York Daily News are among the first of his many images of popular theater. Such entertainments flourished throughout the country and were available all over ... |
raunchy and vulgar, but also comedic and satiric. Marsh’s drawings depict chorus girls, clowns, theater goers and strippers. Burlesque was “the theater of the common man; it expressed the humor, and fantasies of the poor, the old, and the ill-favored.” Marsh continued his burlesque sketches during his trip to Paris in ... |
and had inherited a portion of his grandfather’s money. Nonetheless, the lower class members of society were his preferred subject matter, as he contended that “well bred people are no fun to paint”. |
|Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary| 3:1-10 To expect unchanging happiness in a changing world, must end in disappointment. To bring ourselves to our state in life, is our duty and wisdom in this world. God's whole plan for the government of the world will be found altogether wise, just, and good. Then let us seize the... |
purpose and work. The time to die is fast approaching. Thus labour and sorrow fill the world. This is given us, that we may always have something to do; none were sent into the world to be idle. Verse 8. - A time to love, and a time to hate. This reminds one of the gloss to which our Lord |
refers (Matthew 5:43), "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy," the first member being found in the old Law (Leviticus 19:18), the second being a misconception of the spirit which made Israel God's executioner upon the condemned nations. It was the maxim of Bias, quote... |
we should love as if about some day to hate, and hate as if about to love. And Philo imparts a still more selfish tone to the gnome, when he pronounces ('De Carit.,' 21, p. 401, Mang.), "It was well said by them of old, that we ought to deal out friendship without absolutely renouncing enmity, and practice enmity as |
possibly to turn to friendship. A time of war, and a time of peace. In the previous couplets the infinitive mood of the verb has been used; in this last hemistich substantives are introduced, as being more concise and better fitted to emphasize the close of the catalogue. The first clause referred specially to the priv... |
constrained to entertain towards individuals. The second clause has to do with national concerns, and touches on the statesmanship which discovers the necessity or the opportuneness of war and peace, and acts accordingly. In this and in all the other examples adduced, the lesson intended is this - that man is not indep... |
is in the hand of a power mightier than himself, which frames time and seasons according to its own good pleasure. God holds the threads of human life; in some mysterious way directs and controls events; success and failure are dependent upon his will. There are certain laws which, regulate the issues of actions and ev... |
these; his free-will can put them in motion, but they become irresistible when in operation. This is not fatalism; it is the mere statement of a fact in experience. Koheleth never denies man's liberty, though he is very earnest in asserting God's sovereignty. The reconciliation of the two is a problem unsolved by him. ... |
A time to love, and a time to hate,.... For one to love his friend, and to hate a man, a sinner, as the Targum; to love a friend while he continues such, and hate him, or less love him, when he proves treacherous and unfaithful; an instance of a change of love into hatred may be seen in the |
case of Amnon, 2 Samuel 13:15. A time of unregeneracy is a time of loving worldly lusts and sinful pleasures, the company of wicked men, and all carnal delights and recreations; and a time of conversion is a time to hate what was before loved, sin, and the conversion of sinners, the garment spotted with the flesh, the ... |
practices, though not the persons, of ungodly men; and even to hate, that is, less love, the dearest friends and relations, in comparison of, or when in competition with, Christ; a time of war, and a time of peace; for nations to be engaged in war with each other, or to be at peace, which are continually revolving; and... |
is a time when there will be no more war. In a spiritual sense, the present time, or state of things, is a time of war; the Christian's life is a warfare state, though it will be soon accomplished, in which he is engaging in fighting with spiritual enemies, sin, Satan, and the world: the time to come, or future |
state, is a time of peace, when saints shall enter into peace, and be no more disturbed by enemies from within or from without. In the Midrash, all the above times and seasons are interpreted of Israel, and applied to them. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 8. hate—for example, sin, lusts (Lu 14:26); that is, to ... |
to seem in comparison to hate "father or mother," when coming between us and God. a time of war … peace—(Lu 14:31). Ecclesiastes 3:8 Parallel Commentaries Ecclesiastes 3:8 NIV Ecclesiastes 3:8 NLT Ecclesiastes 3:8 ESV Ecclesiastes 3:8 NASB Ecclesiastes 3:8 KJV Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible |
Infographics have become a common means of presenting information to people in an easy-to-understand visual format. But this ubiquity doesn’t mean that an infographic always means what a viewer might presume it to mean at first glance. Consider the following map of the United States. Recently, the National Oceanic and ... |
showing what the summer climate has been doing recently. Unsurprisingly, the media quickly picked up on the dramatic story. During an interview with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Kai Ryssdal, senior editor of public radio’s Marketplace program, made the following observation, “This has been, as you know, the ho... |
up on the national map is nowhere to be found on the regional one. The statewide map is different again. We can see even more of the variation in the average temperature for July. And we see that across Virginia, it was hot – the “118” re-appears, although not so hot as to push the entire southeast region of the |
NOAA map into the red. In fact the mountain west seems to have a higher average temperature. We can also see that the “Near Normal” and “Above Normal” temperatures dominate states in New England, the Gulf Coast, the Southwest and the West Coast. People in these areas may have been surprised to learn that the summer had... |
unusually warm. And when you boil the data all the way down to the divisional level, the red spreads out to scattered parts of the country, but we learn that parts of Washington (like the Puget Sound area), Oregon, California, Texas and Louisiana had below normal average temperatures during July. (Don’t worry; we got o... |
of this month.) The contiguous states are divided into a total of 344 divisions. In all, 17 of these divisions, spread out over 12 of the 48 states, experienced record high average temperatures last month. While that means that a lot of people were looking for ways to stay cool, especially when you consider that Chicag... |
the record-setting districts, many parts of the country, while warmer than normal, avoided pushing into new territory. The culprit is, of course, averaging. Both spatially and temporally. As an example, I’ve created a simple chart that measures a fictitious “Salamander Index” over a span of 15 years. The area being mea... |
orange line on the chart represents the average value of all of the regions for that point in time. By year 15, the average is at record levels, yet, as you can see, only the East Region is in record territory; all of the other regions had scored higher on the index than that in the past – in some |
cases significantly so. In fact, although it isn’t immediately evident from the chart, the South Region (the violet line), which spends much of its time above the overall average, is at slightly below its average level, as across all 15 years, the South Region scores an average of about 31.8. So it’s important to remem... |
ones, make data easily digestible, they don’t always provide as accurate a picture as it might seem at first glance. (Thanks to Aaron for the guest post!) Denali, in an evaluation version, has been out for a little while now. I even have a copy on my computer and I’m working one of our analysts to learn the ins and |
outs- fun stuff! According to Microsoft, though, the official release will hit shelves April 1st. I’m not quite sure why Microsoft chose to release Denali on a day that’s well known for Google hi-jinx (Google Paper anyone?) but I’m sure they have their reasons. Happy Holidays from Piraeus! We had a busy holiday season ... |
we forgot how to have fun We hosted a Mad Men themed potluck, complete with cocktails. It was great to see everyone dressed to the nines. Thanks for playing along! Here at Piraeus we aren’t starting to deck the halls before Thanksgiving, but a co-worker did send this interesting tree-related infographic my way and I th... |
last night I had a rather lengthy conversation about the old-growth trees along the Olympic Peninsula. According to the Peninsula Daily News (from 2/2011), the Olympic National Park sees around 3,000,000 visitors annually, though there’s debate about the traffic counter’s accuracy. Are you one of the 3 million? I wonde... |
trees. I suspect there’s a dendrologist somewhere with it on their bucket-list Happy Halloween from the Piraeus Data crew There were more costumes too, and some brilliant karaoke by even our newest crew members. Fun was had by all! It’s on like Donkey Kong! I know, I know, old news. This happened in Paris already. But ... |
wars are fun. I saw an angry bird up in the window across the street and then noticed the space invader a few floors up and Pac Man a few doors over. We just had to join in. Turns out it looks like the folks over at Health Solutions Network started with Pac Man and Runic Games did the space |
invaders. PlacePlay followed suit, setting off the folks across from us, and now there’s a smile face above them. I hope this keeps going. Thanks GeekWire, for getting this rolling with your article here with original Pine Street Space Invader attack . Most people I know have a wordpress or blogger site at this point. ... |
going that includes emergency contacts, updates on health and new family photos from weekend excursions to keep those of us away from the East Coast in the loop. The templates are easy to use and you don’t have to be a programmer to add a slide show or link back to an article. Remember an earlier day, one that included |
GeoCities? I have to say I’d completely forgotten about GeoCities, but then I stumbled across this visualization this morning, via Mashable. I like the idea of “The Deleted City” being an enormous virtual city that never really existed, but sort of did. (Video via Mashable) I remember the Math Olympiad and the Science ... |
reason I never thought of the practice continuing out of the classroom. Since school is supposed to prepare you for the real-world, I don’t know why I was surprised to come across this project from Charlotte, North Carolina. Welcome to the Business Intelligence Olympiad! Every two years, starting in 2008, the city of C... |
city departments against each other to address a fictional problem with analytics and data sets. I’m sure the competition leads to plenty of laughter and good-hearted competition, but according to the article I read, it’s also created an environment where “a lot of information that previously had not be [sic] shared is... |
city.” The competition in 2010 included a fictitious hurricane that bore a striking resemblance to Irene. “The underlying benefit was with Hurricane Irene coming up the coast almost on the same track as the theoretical Hurricane Vixen from December, teams were more used to looking at contingencies and how they affected... |
the city of Charlotte] Raper said. As far as I know there isn’t something comparable in Seattle, but maybe there should be. Is it time for a BI Olympiad with data from the viaduct? For more about Charlotte’s Olympiad, see the original article from govtech.com here. The teams here at Piraeus put in a lot of hard work, s... |
nice that we can also hang out together. We had our summer picnic on Friday and our fearless office manager managed to pick just about the nicest day all summer. The food was great, we had balloons and music, a little bit of ladder golf and a little bit of swimming. Most importantly, some really great people! Oh yeah, ... |
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